Man arrested for allegedly threatening to assassinate Vivek Ramaswamy
The suspect, 30-year-old Tyler Anderson, was first reported to police by the Republican presidential hopeful’s staff last week
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A man has been arrested after allegedly threatening to kill Vivek Ramaswamy and his supporters at an event on Monday, according to newly released court records.
The suspect, 30-year-old Tyler Anderson, was first reported to police by the Republican presidential hopeful’s staff last week after he allegedly responded to one of the campaign’s texts about an upcoming campaign event.
"We are grateful to law enforcement for their swiftness and professionalism in handling this matter and pray for the safety of all Americans," Ramaswamy campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Independent.
Mr Ramaswamy was not identified specifically in the complaint, but details match up with the event held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Monday morning. His campaign also confirmed he was the target of the threat.
Per ABC, Mr Anderson also allegedly referred to him in a response to a text invitation to the event, writing: "Great, another opportunity for me to blow [Ramaswamy's] brains out.”
"I'm going to kill everyone who attends and then f*** their corpses," a second message said, according to screenshots included in the complaint.
The text messages, which had been deleted, were found after law enforcement seized Mr Anderson’s phone during a search of his home on Saturday.
Ms McLaughlin’s statement continued: “We’re going to let the investigators do their work and figure out who this person is and what their motives might be.
“I will however say this: we constantly hear about January 6 and ‘violence’ and ‘extremism on the right’ from the media, but the same media goes silent when the target is a Republican. Deranged voices and left-wing cranks... continue to demonize Republicans and question our loyalty to the country.
“It’s no wonder that fanatics will take action. Whenever it’s some nut with alleged right-wing views, the media is quick to blame all conservatives for stoking violence.
“And yet the media never looks in the mirror and sees that they stoke hatred and violence by questioning our patriotism and motives and accusing us of undermining democracy.”
Mr Anderson also sent threatening messages to another candidate on Wednesday, the search of his phone found, according to the complaint. Part of those messages included “hope you have the stamina for a mass shooting!” ABC reported.
It is unclear who the second candidate was.
Mr Anderson was due to make his first appearance in federal court on Monday afternoon.
Asked by ABC News last week on the trail if he was concerned for his safety, Mr Ramaswamy, who says he will abolish the FBI among other federal agencies and fire at least half of all federal workers if elected, said, "I have not certainly brought that up as a concern."
When asked then if threats had been made on his life, Mr Ramaswamy told the outlet, "We don't take anything for granted, but I'm confident that the team around us and our family is on this journey together. And I'm praying for our family and our country."